Defying Gravity

Performance

A concert featuring leading student ensembles Defying Gravity from WAAPA, Piñata from UWA & Queensland Conservatorium Percussionists (Brisbane).

Artist Bio

In 1987, the visionary director Richard Gill founded the percussion course at WAAPA – the Western
Australian Academy of Performing Arts. It was an exciting time: the extraordinary possibilities of
percussion were being recognised and explored, and pioneering composers, performers and teachers
were testing the boundaries of just what ‘percussion’ might be. WAAPA’s new Classical Percussion
Ensemble presented its first public performance in September 1987.
Defying Gravity now celebrates 38 years at the forefront of percussion in Australia: over 600 concerts,
145 world premieres, five international tours, four national tours, numerous radio and TV broadcasts,
and seventy-five percussion graduates who have gone on to establish full-time careers in music.
Defying Gravity’s concerts combine exotic timbres with beauty, drama, surprise, joy, and the
overwhelming power of rhythm… it’s been a thrilling journey through the world of percussion.
“A thundering success… white-hot intensity… a riveting experience in both sonic and visual terms…
unfettered listening pleasure” – Neville Cohn, OZarts review
“Magic is exactly what this group performs. They’re not just artists, they’re sorcerers-extraordinaire!”

• Steve Spain, Harambee Magazine
  Defying Gravity:
  Martha Bird, Chelsea Cheah, Caitlin Dale, Monica de Snoo, Callum Fairweather, Dean Hardingham,
  Domenic Lamattina, Cassandra Loy, Zac Maddaford, Dean Murray, Jon Parker, Zac Skelton, Jane Stark
  and Matthew Wilson
  Musical Director:
  Tim White OAM